Lloyd Brevett, Bassist With The Skatalites, Dies At Age 80

Lloyd Brevett, double bassist and founding member of Jamaican ska band the Skatalites, died today at the age of 80 years old at Andrews Memorial Hospital in St. Andrew, Jamaica.

Brevett had suffered a stroke in March, two weeks after gunmen murdered his son, Okine, outside the family home in Kingston. Family spokesperson Maxine Stowe said, “he took his son’s death as stoically as he could, but you knew it was devastating for him,” adding that the bassist’s health “deteriorated rapidly after that.” It was complications associated with the stroke which led to his passing earlier today.

Brevett will be remembered for his influential role in the history of ska. The Skatalites were only together for 18 months between 1963 and 1965. But in that time they laid the groundwork for the future of Jamaican music. In a statement former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson spoke warmly of the bassist’s legacy: “To say that Brevett was a creator of both ska and dub is not to use hyperbole.” [Washington Post via DS]